Foreigners living in Britain left in ‘limbo’ by onerous red tape for residence

by: Joshua Chaffin and Zosia Wasik

With a masters degree in economics and five years working in London’s financial services industry, Marek felt confident when he sat down on a Sunday evening in August to tackle the UK’s application for permanent residence.

But like many others, he was soon frustrated — and ultimately defeated — by an 85-page document that has become the bane of many foreigners living in Brexit Britain.

“I come from a country that very much has its level of bureaucracy, but this is tops,” said Marek, a Polish expatriate who declined to use his real name because of concerns about his immigration status. “You see a form like this — you see this list of documentation — and it’s nothing but hostile.”

EU membership has for decades guaranteed the bloc’s citizens the right to live and work in Britain. But with that set to end after the UK voted in June to leave the EU, permanent residency is a legal lifeline that many of the 3m Europeans living in Britain are now reaching for.

It re-establishes those same rights under UK law. It is also a prerequisite to apply for British citizenship. Short of that, many panicky applicants seem to believe such status will at least put them at the head of the queue for a work permit or some other legal protection after the UK leaves the bloc.

There are 85 pages to fill in and they ask the same thing over and over again but in a way you never know what the right answer is Marta Grabinska

“[They] think they will be more secure having this document — whatever happens after Brexit,” explained Dana Jozefkowicz, an immigration adviser at the eastern European resource centre in London.

Kamal Rahman, an immigration lawyer at Mishcon de Reya, who tends to work with wealthy individuals and finance executives, said she had seen “a huge rush” of applicants: “We have been inundated with people who previously wouldn’t have even thought of permanent residency but now feel obliged to get it.”

But doing so means confronting an onerous application and overstretched bureaucracy that is heaping frustration — and hefty legal fees — on many long-time UK residents.

“There are 85 pages to fill in and they ask the same thing over and over again but in a way you never know what the right answer is,” complained Marta Grabinska, who has been waiting six months for a reply.

Ms Jozefkowicz, who estimated she spends about two weeks preparing each application, agreed it was “quite confusing”, adding: “For somebody who speaks little English it’s impossible.”

The eastern European resource centre charges just £50 beyond the £65 application fee for each family member. Private lawyers and a growing rank of informal “advisers” are charging immigrants anywhere from £200 to £1,000. Anger over such costs has prompted an online petition with more than 26,000 signatures.

For some professionals, no amount of money is worth the aggravation. “When someone asks me for help with this I don’t even mention the price — I just say ‘no’ because I know this is going to be a nightmare,” said Sebastian Derwisinski, a Pole who owns a Northampton accountancy firm, Renaissance The Partners, with his wife Malgorzata.

They spent two weeks preparing their own permanent residency application right after the June referendum. “That was the trigger,” he recalled. “We wanted to make sure everything would be smooth after Brexit.”

The application, whose guidance notes alone run to 18 pages, was only instituted in late 2015. Before that, an EU national was simply deemed a permanent resident after five years living continuously in the UK. Instructions for the form say applicants must provide bank statements, invoices and receipts to prove that they have been self-employed

It is so taxing, say lawyers, because of the copious evidence required to prove that a person has been living and working in the UK for the past five years, and also establish their family relations.

Applicants must, for example, document every time they have left the UK — a record no longer included in many passports because of the EU’s free movement of people. The Home Office also requests a variety of documents spread evenly across the five years to prove employment, including payslips, letters from employers, employment contracts and the like.

“If you come over here and work in the informal economy it can be very hard to establish these things,” said Markus Malik, managing partner of Adams Solicitors, which charges £800 to £1,000 to prepare a permanent residency application. It can also be difficult to prove residency for a stay-at-home spouse — even one that has lived in the UK for many years.

Applicants must list their health insurance, but the form reveals how complex that can be Lawyers said the Home Office had become more rigid in the way it evaluated such applications.

If so, that may be because it is swamped: applications for UK residency documents from EU nationals almost tripled in the quarter after the referendum compared with the same period a year earlier. Waiting times are running four months or more, during which many applicants sacrifice their passports. “You really are in the hands of the gods,” said Azra Malik, an Adams partner.

The Home Office said no applicant was required to complete all 85 pages, and that it was working to make the process “quicker and easier”. Many EU nationals can now apply online. “European citizens resident in the UK make a vital contribution both to our economy and our society. That’s why we will be making securing their status, as well as that of British nationals in the EU, a priority” in Brexit negotiations, an official said.

That may offer some consolation for Marek, who has worked in the UK for six years and assembled “kilos” of supporting documents when he began his permanent residence application. Only midway through did he realise an EU citizen could be disqualified if they failed to purchase “comprehensive sickness insurance” while studying or unemployed during their time in the UK.

In 2014, he was out of work for about six months — although he insists he did not claim benefits. “Nobody told me I needed a comprehensive sickness insurance,” he fumed. “I would be happy to pay for it if anybody gave me the bloody account number!”

A lawyer told him he must now wait until 2019 to reapply for permanent residence — and even then he is not sure he will be approved. “What can we do?” he said. “Everyone’s in a bit of limbo.”